‘Cover-up of highest order’
Farmers left in dark over contaminated land
THE state government has been accused of engaging in “a cover-up of the highest order” after Queensland farmers were left in the dark over contamination fears.
The Weekend Australian revealed that dangerous levels of cyanide and benzene were detected early last year in monitoring bores up to 700m outside the boundary of the exLinc Energy project, just outside of Chinchilla.
The project was shut down after becoming one of Australia’s worst environmental contamination disasters, and the company was found guilty in 2018 of wilfully causing serious environmental harm and fined $4.5m.
Opposition Leader David Crisafulli, speaking from Longreach on Monday, said landholders, environmentalists and local councils all deserved to know that the contaminants had been found.
“There is a cover-up of the highest order … we won’t stop until we know why the minister refused to release info that clearly she has had in her possession for a long time,” he said.
After the story broke, Environment Minister Meaghan Scanlon told reporters she understood results were not uploaded to the environmental management register because “it didn’t reach the threshold for it to be uploaded”.
But more documents released by The Australian on Monday showed that the government was also concerned with the legal implications of releasing the information.
“Media may find this publicly available information, and this would be beneficial to any civil proceedings against the state,’’ the document said.
Deputy Premier Steven Miles defended his colleague’s handling of the growing scandal and said any attempts by the opposition to accuse Ms Scanlon of a cover-up were “cruel”.